Paige Dyson Chronicles 3 Security of Heart
by NavyWriterChic
Summary: Story #3 in the Paige Dyson Chronicles. Paige is arrested and taken back to SuperComputer for reprogramming into a special forces agent. Will Bob, Ray, and Mouse get to her in time or will the Paige they know and love be gone forever?
1. Chapter 1

****_This is story #3 of the Paige Dyson Chronicles. Continue to review and enjoy!_

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><p><strong>Mainframe - Kits Sector<strong>

The Eight Ball Apartments tower was standing tall as the sun began to shine over Mainframe. The system was starting up for an all new day of functioning.

Bob was still in his bed, but he was sleeping, complete slumber would not release him no matter what.

He reached over to touch Paige who slept with him all through the nighttime cycle, but awoke when all he touched was the pillow.

He sat up, clutching the blanket around him, looking around for her. "Paige," he called for his former girlfriend.

Bob stood up and slipped on the bottom of his uniform. He wanted to look and see if Paige was in the kitchen or out in the common room.

Paige was in neither room. Her surfboard was gone too.

Had she left while he was still sleeping? Or had last night all been a dream?

A VidWindow opened and Matrix appeared. "Bob," he shouted.

"Matrix, what's wrong?" he asked.

"You need to get down to the Principle Office right now," Matrix shouted. "Someone is here and he's arresting Paige."

Bob's eyes widened and turned to dread. Paige was in trouble.

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><p><strong>Principle Office<strong>

Bob glided in on his zipboard as fast as it would go. There was someone there and Paige was resisting the soldier that was trying to arrest her.

Ray Tracer was trying to get close, but the soldier was able to keep him at bay with a sterilizer.

Paige flung her head back to chuck the soldier and nearly got away, but her cuffs kept her in stasis to keep her from escaping.

"You escaped once Dyson," the solider said. "You're going back and will never escape again."

"What is going on here?" Bob asked.

"Bob," Paige begged for him.

"I'm Guardian 1099, Agent Blackheart," the soldier said. "Special operations."

"I know of you Agent Blackheart," Bob said. "What is this enforcement?"

Paige was still struggling in the cuffs.

"Miss Dyson here is still a wanted fugitive," Blackheart said as he yanked her upward so that they were so close, Paige wasn't going anywhere. "And wanted fugitives always are captured when they least expect it."

"It took your guys ten cycles find me," Paige grumbled. "I must have caused you guys a real problem being on the run so long."

"Why aren't you arresting the others?" Ray Tracer asked. "I escaped that night too you know."

"I received only a tip that Dyson was the only one here," Blackheart replied. "Consider this as warning to get the web out of this system because I will come back and search for you and the other four. Oh yes and that other group that got away with you as well."

Blackheart dragged her into the tank as Paige was struggling out to get free.

"No," Bob whispered and lunged for Blackheart, but Matrix kept him at bay.

Paige was secured to the tank with her cuffs and she tried kicking at him with her free feet. Then she looked out as the tank was powering up. "Bob," she shouted, "you have to come for me. I'm going to get deleted if you don't! Come to the Supercomputer, please! The Surfer Aca…" And the door slammed shut.

The tank carrier was lifted off the ground and headed away.

Bob watched the carrier enter a portal and head off into the Supercomputer. He knew exactly where Blackheart was taking Paige.

Matrix finally released him and Bob marched away.

"Don't tell me you're planning on going after her?" Matrix said to his friend as he was walking away.

"Why wouldn't I Matrix?" he said. "Paige is my friend, in the past she was more. And now more than ever, she needs my help."  
>"Matrix is right Bob," AndrAIa said. "Doesn't it bother you somewhat that Blackheart came after Paige and not the rest of them?"<p>

Bob stopped and thought.

"He didn't even take me mate," Ray also added in. "Think about it."

He did and drew to a conclusion. "I know who gave Blackheart his tip," Bob said in a low and angry tone as he turned to face G-Prime.

"Megabyte," Mouse said.

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><p><strong>G-Prime<strong>

Megabyte was chuckling to himself as he watched the tank carrier carry the young Paige Dyson away. "It's a good thing that I keep up to date with all the wanted fugitives. How pleased I was to see your name my dear, scroll across that list. You and your little friends."

He laughed again.

"It was a brilliant plan my grossenbiter," Herr Dockor said to him. "What is your next move?"

"To resume recapturing Mainframe," Megabyte said, staring out the open roof of his palace. "With Paige Dyson and her rag-tag militia out of the way, nothing will stop me this time."

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><p><em>Remember to review<em>


	2. Chapter 2

_Keep on reviewing everyone_

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><p><strong>Principle Office<strong>

"I'm telling you straight up sugahs," Mouse was telling the Knight Surfers that were waiting with her outside the Principle Office. "You need to get out of here and head back to your little flyin fortress in the Web. It's just not safe for you anymore."

"We're not leaving Paige in the hands of those goons," Lana said to her.

"Yeah," Stara replied. "Paige is a part of us and we are not going to let them reprogram her against us. She has web protection."

"If she is reprogrammed, her first mission no doubt," Blade was saying, "will be to search and retrieve us. Not happening Mouse."

"I will not fight my fellow surfer sister like this," Grendar replied in his cool tone.

"We're not going to let Paige get reprogrammed," Mouse told them. "Bob, Ray, and I are devising a plan to get into the Surfer Academy and save Paige. We'll e-mail her back to you safe and sound."

"You better," Stara replied. "Let's go everyone."

The surfers lifted off the ground and headed toward a tear above the Principle Office. They transformed it into a web portal and jetted inside, the tear vanishing behind them.

Mouse was relieved that they had gone back into the web so easily. "Be safe kids," she said. "Be safe."

Bob and Ray Tracer were overlooking the schematics that Turbo had downloaded for them. The map was projected on the main screen and they were looking for the easiest path in.

"I think it would be fastest to charge in and confuse the guards," Bob suggested.

"Bad thing about that though," Ray Tracer was telling him. "Until Paige has been converted, the guards will be on increased patrols, waiting for a counter rescue attempt. I think our best attack will be to sneak in as guards and make our way to the reduction room. That is where the downgrade and upgrade will be taking place and where Paige most likely will be."

"Do you think that we can pull this off?" Mouse asked as she joined them.

"It will be difficult," Ray replied. "Nothing that a guardian, a hacker, and a search engine can't do on their own. Did you get them to split?"

"They're on their way back to their base," she told them. "They'll be safe, but they're worried about us failing and Paige coming after them after she is reprogrammed since she does have web protection. She'll be the one hunting them down."

"We're not going to let that happen," Bob replied.

The trio began to head out.

"You do know that this is mind-blowing insanity?" Dot said on the main level to them. "You're just setting yourselves up to get caught."

"They're not going to get us," Mouse replied. "They'll be sliced, diced, and frappe before I get caught."

"Mouse is right," Ray said. "If we don't get Paige out of there, then _they _will."

"Wait!" AndrAIa stopped them. "You said _they_. You mean the Knight Surfers?"

"There is another group of surfers that escaped the night that we did," Ray said. "They call themselves the Shadow Riders. They're nothing but a bunch of punk, web search engines that cause the trouble that the Knight Surfers are often blamed for. They were going to brawl out in the center courtyard when the escape happened."

"I'm not going to let Damien Triad get to her," Bob assured them. "For Paige's sake and ours."

The trio walked out of the room and headed for the lift.

Mouse, Bob, and Ray Tracer appeared from the doors and stood in the Core Room. The tear was waiting for them to convert it into a portal.

Mouse secured her sabers in her boots and Ray tightened his gloves on his hands.

Bob turned Glitch's gear tight. "Ready?"

"Couldn't be closer to it sugah," Mouse replied. "Those Shadow Riders probably already know she's there."

"Glitch, portal: Supercomputer," he shouted and aimed his keytool at the tear.

The glowing environment of the Supercomputer appeared and it was stable to proceed into the hallowed domain of the most powerful system on the Net.

Mouse jumped onto Ray's surfboard and Bob onto his zipboard.

"Let's do it," Bob said and they entered the portal, which abruptly shut after they were in.

Dot Matrix was watching them as they entered the portal in the Core Room. "Be safe you three," she whispered. "Come back to us alive."

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><p><strong>G-Prime<strong>

Megabyte was watching as the three heroes entered the portal from the Core Room. One of his spy cameras was still mounted inside the room and was enjoying listening to the conversation.

"Computer," he called. "Search for the Shadow Riders."


	3. Chapter 3

****_Remember to review. _

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><p><strong>Supercomputer — Web Surfer Academy: Maximum security Ward<strong>

The tall walls and towers were off to the farthest side of the Supercomputer, as if in its own system itself. The island was massive and covered in quaking jags around the massive fortress.

The Guardian Academy in all its glory stood glowing brightly from so far, making the Web Surfer domain seem like hell itself.

Soldiers patrolled all the walls and razor wire was electrically charged to prevent another incident like that of ten megacycles ago unlikely.

Inside one of the towers, Paige Dyson was lying on a table, just coming out of her forced coma. She remembered that she had put up a fight against Guardian Blackheart and they were forced to blast her with a low frequency shot to keep her under control.

Her head throbbed with pain, but she couldn't touch her scalp to soothe it away. Paige's hands were bound to the table as were her ankles, thighs, and chest.

She wasn't going anywhere.

"Welcome," the voice said to her.

From her fuzzy vision, she saw the surfer doctor over her head. He was old and required a hover unit to glide him around the table where she was strapped down. His dark glasses, much like Ray Tracer's, pierced into her soul.

"I'm glad that you have awakened Lady Dyson," his soft and caressing voice said to her. "We were waiting to proceed, but we couldn't until Commander Blackheart's stun wore off."

"Then why don't you hit me up with some more of that," Paige snapped. "If you think that I am going to allow you access into my programming subconscious," she said before spitting at him.

He was amused at her struggling as he signaled for someone to enter.

"Since you were such a naughty girl ten megacycles ago," he told her, "we're going to reprogram you completely. You'll be a formatted program: no memories, no name. You will be a self-loyal servant to the Surfer Academy and then you will go after your friends in the Web. Then you will take out that other rag-tag militia, the Shadow Riders for us. I will correct my mistakes from those cycles ago my dear," he said, smoothing his hand down her face and hair. "You wounded me and now I can no longer walk without this hover unit. Now, I will make you pay for your insubordination against me."

The other scientists covered her face with a halo with electro-probes near her head.

Paige tried to free herself, but it was too hard for her to do so. Blackheart stabbed his prod iron into her abdomen to remind her of the pain when it was stabbed into her when they arrived.

"None of you scientist freaks scare me," Paige shouted. "And when I get out of this little toy of yours, you're going to be sorry."

"We're ready Doctor Akorn," one of the scientists said to him in her sweetest voice.

"I think not, my dear," Dr. Akorn replied to her threat and nodded.

The machine was switched on. Pulses of light pierced into her skull and she was shocked at the sudden pain, but refused to let it get her down.

Paige had to fight for her very existence, screaming loudly so that someone would hear her.

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><p>Outside, Bob, Ray Tracer, and Mouse appeared from the portal near the Guardian Academy Tower. When they landed, Turbo was waiting outside for them to arrive.<p>

"Turbo, any news?" Bob asked.

"Doctor Akorn is unattainable and his assistants say that they don't have Paige in custody," the Prime Guardian updated them.

"That is a load of web creature discharge," Mouse snapped. "We know that Commander Blackheart took her away from Mainframe because Megabyte turned her in."

The sudden eruption of Bob punching a wall, leaving a massive hole to where the object decompiled and vanished, clearly showed that he was upset.

"Take it easy mate," Ray told him. "We're going to get out there and save Paige before she is reprogrammed."

"You said Commander Blackheart?" Turbo wanted Mouse to confirm what she had said.

"What about him sugah?" she asked.

"Commander Blackheart was released from guardian duty nearly three cycles ago," Turbo told the three of them and reached for a card near where his keytool Copeland was mounted. "This is my personal override command card to anywhere in the Supercomputer. You can go in and get Paige, but I would do it fast. Her programming won't withstand the reprogram commands of the Surfer Academy very long."

Bob took the card. "I promise," he said. "We'll get your niece back safely. Let's move."

All three jumped onto Ray's surfboard, knowing that the energy sea wouldn't support Bob's zipboard for very long in flight.

They zoomed as fast as the board would let them.

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><p>The halo that was wrapped around Paige's head as she was being zapped so that the mad scientists could enter her cerebral programming and begin to turn her into a mindless zombie; was removed from her head.<p>

"She is resisting," one of the doctors said to Akorn. "The Erasure needs to cool before we can try again. If we attempt too soon, then we could ruin Dyson's complete form."

"Oh, you think," she snapped. "I don't take being turned into a lab rat as an easy assignment protocol."

Blackheart came in and chucked her in the abs with his taser, which was not charged. "You will be reprogrammed Dyson, one way or the other."

"Like they did you?" Paige replied. "I don't think so."

He smiled and stepped away. "The reprogramming that these doctors gave me has opened my codes to a whole new world. This will show Turbo for ever expelling me from Guardian duty."

"Why am I not surprised about that," she said. "You psychos think that I want to join your little asylum system, please."

"Your programming is just what the Surfer Academy needs," the former guardian said to her. "With your web surfing ability and knowledge of the Web through your escapades, you and I will be what the Net most fears."

Blackheart was so close to her face that she thought he was about to steal a kiss from her, but merely tapped her cheek a couple times.

Paige knew that if she didn't get out of here and soon, she was going to be in severe trouble.

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><p><em>Remember to review everyone!<em>


	4. Chapter 4

****_An introduction to the rival web surfing gang, the Shadow Riders_

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><p><strong>Galactica System <strong>

The system of Galactica was a small system on the farthest reaches of the Net where any travelers could use its ports to go anywhere they wanted.

There was a small cantina in the center of the system and it was where the outcasts of the social norm were associated to going.

Inside the cantina, bionic and sprite bounty hunters were drinking to their conquests and making their next ones.

At the corner table, three surfers were sitting, admiring a group of dancing girls on the stage across from them.

"You know," the center man said, "Hexa gets more beautiful every time we come back."

"Damien, you are the man," the guy on his left saluted him with his glass.

A server binome came over. "Hey guys," she said almost fearful of their reputation. "You have a private VidWindow message for you."

"From who Trixie?" the one on Damien's right said to her.

"Don't know, but its high class by the markings on the message," she said, showing them the navy message with the green blades that glowed on it.

"Well open it Damien," the left guy said. "Could be the high paying retirement function we've been looking for."

Damien opened the VidWindow message and they watched it.

"Shadow Riders," the dark blue and menacing virus spoke to them. "I have need of your services, but since I am a straightforward sort of virus and I know how you surfers work. If you will work for me, I will give you a substantial piece of data that you want."

"Any data we want we can get for ourselves," one of the two guys that was with him blurted out.

"Even the location of a certain web surfer that you particularly hold in the lowest regard," the virus told them. "A certain Paige Dyson."

Damien smiled rather viciously and reclined in the booth. "Where did you say you were from?" he asked.

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><p><strong>Supercomputer <strong>

Mouse, Ray Tracer, and Bob arrived on the foreign island where the Web Surfer Academy was located, landing near the abandoned beach.

They moved quietly around the jagged rocks and moved their way upward toward the massive complex.

Guards patrolled the towers and spotlights were canvassing the area.

"The blokes finally got security upgraded after the first escape," Ray whispered to all of them.

"Can you remember the area where you guys escaped Ray?" Bob asked. "That has got to be the area where security is going to be the tightest so we need to get far enough away from that point and get inside."

Mouse was looking at the datapad with all the tech prints of the Academy's layout. "According to this layout that Turbo gave me," she was whispering to them, "there is a command terminal at the east wing of the compound and several labs near the central base tower. I need to get to that terminal so I can track down where she is."

"Here's where we escaped," Ray pointed out. "This has to be a reformed into an impenetrable alloy. I don't think that we can cut it through."

"Leave that to me honey," Mouse said and pulled out her katana.

"We have to hurry," Bob said. "There is no telling how far they are in the deprogramming progress."

They made their way around the building and found an old utility door, which Mouse effectively opened with one of her katanas. Now they were inside.

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><p>Paige was reclining inside her maximum security cell, huddled in the corner. It was a waiting game for her now as the "good" doctor was upgrading the reprogramming thingy-ma-bob to try and corrupt her even more.<p>

She didn't want to let anyone know of the headache that she had. Even though she was being cool about it, the programming had begun to probe into her code, slowly altering it. The deprogramming was already complete and they had just begun the reprogramming.

If those psychos, including Blackheart were able to alter her code in anyway, then there was no telling what she would lose.

Her life had been beyond stellar, but it was still hers to control.

"_You're such a screw up_," Dixon said in the past said to her, right after she had been given her expulsion papers. "_I can't believe that we're identical programs and you can't even hack in the Guardian Academy_."

"_Maybe I am a screw-up_," Paige shouted, "_but at least I'm not an uptight show-off like you. You'll never be anything but a guardian lap-dog. At least I live_!"

Paige curled up on the floor of the cell, trying to rest her throbbing head.

All that she wanted to do was remember all the good times before they were eventually erased from her memory by Blackheart and his mad scientist ally.

_It was a club right after she was expelled from the academy where she and her friends, the Knight Surfers, were relaxing and watching a rival group, the Shadow Riders._

_On the dance floor where everyone was celebrating, Bob Serrano and she were dancing slowly. Right as Damien Triad walked by, they leaned their heads against one another to stare._

_If she got out of this place with her mind intact, she was going to try and work on things with Bob. He was single. She was single. Why in the net not?_

Suddenly, light pierced into her cell and a shadow was splitting it before her.

"Hello angel," the voice of Blackheart said as he came inside, sealing the door behind him. "How is your head doing?"

"What do you care?" she replied.

Blackheart came and sat beside her, but Paige curled up in the corner to stay as far enough away from him as she could. "I am interested in working alongside you," he told her.

Paige pretended to vomit and swallow hard on it. "Please. Even if I "do" get reprogrammed, there is no way in the web that I will work alongside you."

The guardian hunter reached out and grabbed a section of her pink hair, playing with it in his fingers. He used it to bring her closer to him; although she tried to keep away from him.

"I liked you…once," he said to her.

"What? I never knew you existed."

"That was the whole point," Blackheart said. "It was the "fact" that you didn't notice me."

_"I watched you as soon as you came into the Guardian Academy," Blackheart was explaining to Dyson._

_The younger Paige was standing there with her twin sister Dixon as they were chatting with some other freshman students at the Academy._

_Young Jensen Blackheart was watching from his storage locker, watching the two girls laugh at one of the guys who told a joke._

_Suddenly, he was shoved against his locker by a member of the graduate class and got a broken rib from the burly, Alec Cardin._

_When he got back up and cleaned up his fallen school gear, the bell for the next session of classes had begun…and Paige Dyson was gone._

_"You never noticed me so I got even," Blackheart said to him. "I upgraded in Section 13. I got bigger, tougher, tattoos, and even got into a couple fights. Just prove I wasn't a wuss like everyone wanted me to be."_

Blackheart and she were now standing and he had blocked her against the wall. "Isn't this the kind of guy that drives you crazy?" he asked her. "I got kicked out of the Guardian police because I loved you. Isn't this what you wanted from the guy that you would settle down with?"

"When I was a kid, yes," she replied, "but not now. The decent man in my life is someone who can tame my wild heart. You're not Prince Charming."

Blackheart walked away from her and called to the guards on the outside. "Get in here," he shouted. "It's time to finish what we started."

The guards entered, stun weapons fully drawn to subdue her.

"Soon, my darling Paige," he said, "it will begin a new age of hunting for us. There will be no surfer, no virus, and no person to hide from us. May this be a new "page" in our long life together."

Paige screamed as the men came closer to take her away for reprogramming.

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><p><em>Remember to review everyone!<em>


	5. Chapter 5

_Will everyone get to Paige in time?_

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><p>Guards were on patrol in a hallway near the laboratory where the special project was underway. They were supposed to remain vigilant until the word was given to them.<p>

One of them moved away from the computer station and headed down the hall. "I'll be back in a few microseconds."

"Alright," a second one replied.

He walked down the hall and rounded the corner.

There was a small commotion as the four guards that were remaining looked down the hall.

"Go check it out," the second guard told two of his constituents.

Two more headed down the hall, but were blasted by a pistol.

"Get them!" the guard shouted, but three people came flying down the hall and blasted them.

Bob, Mouse, and Ray Tracer came around the corner and dragged the guards' bodies, hiding them behind the security desk.

"Guards," Mouse said. "What guards?"

"That was easy," Ray said, gliding to a stop. "We have to be close to the lab, aren't we babe?"

"Give me a second sugah," she replied and got to work on the terminal. She typed furiously to search for the lab.

Bob was frustrated and then saw the laboratory itself.

Blackheart and his guards were dragging Paige to the table where the reprogramming was no doubt taking place.

"There she is," he shouted. "How close are we to the lab?"

"It's directly parallel to us darlin," she answered. "Directly down this main…"

They all watched as Blackheart kissed Paige and she couldn't push him away due to her restraints.

"Let's get over there," Bob shouted and led the way.

"Hey, wait up," Ray called to him and went chasing.

Mouse too had to shut down the system and catch up to the men that were with her. But Paige was running out of time.

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><p>Paige struggled to get free from the restraints as the crystal halo and probes were over her skull.<p>

Akorn moved toward the switch that would finish the reprogramming of her code. "Now my dear, time for you to join us," he said in a cynical tone. "You and Commander Blackheart will be a great addition to our forces. Just think of it: your own team of hunters."

"You know that I will find someway to delete myself before I ever take orders from you," she snipped.

"I dare you to try," Akron said to her. "Prepare the reprogramming function." He started chuckling as he stepped away from her. She wasn't going anywhere unless she got some help.

The machine's pulses started their dastardly work of reprogramming. All her memories were brought to the surface.

_Her escape from the academy._

_The fights with her twin sister._

_The escape from the Surfer Academy._

_Her perilous flights through the web and bounty hunting._

_The Knight Surfers._

_The Shadow Rider feud._

_Sleeping with Bob in his apartment._

_Being caught by Megabyte and reprogrammed then._

Then it was all gone. Her memory was a complete blank and Paige was completely still.

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><p>"It's working," Akron said before he looked up at Commander Blackheart there. "Soon, Lady Dyson and you will be the Scourge of the Net. No one will dare face you and the web will be controlled by Surfers; not Guardians for as long as the Net lives."<p>

Akron started laughing, but then the doors were knocked down by some force barging in.

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><p>"I don't think so Akron," Bob shouted. "Guardian 452 of the Supercomputer Guardian Academy and I'm ordering this place shut down."<p>

"Keep up with her reprogramming!" Akron shouted. "We shall deal with this infidel!"

Akron's armrests suddenly became wrist mounted blasters as Blackheart pulled out a weapon on his belt.

"You get to Sugah," Mouse shouted. "We'll take care of chuckles and the former guardian."

"Got it," Bob replied and moved away.

"Who do you want love?" she asked Ray.

"I'll take the floating chair mad-doctor," Ray chose. "Hope you don't mind?"

"Oh I prefer it," she replied. "May the best one win."

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><p><strong>Outside<strong>

Above the Surfer Academy, a portal opened as five black-cloaked surfers headed from it and charged downward toward the academy building.

Damien Triad led the charge of his fellow surfers toward it and Paige Dyson who was inside its walls.

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><p><strong>Inside<strong>

Ray floated on the board and stared down the doctor.

"Ray Tracer," Akron said his name.

"That would be me bloke," he replied.

"You were going to be one of the best surfers because you accepted your reprogramming," Akron told him. "Now you defy me from my greatest accomplishment."

"Reprogramming a pretty lady like her against her will is your greatest accomplishment," he replied. "I must have missed that session."

Akron screamed and fired at him, but Ray used energy to create a shield in front of him to stop his shots from striking his body.

Mouse and Blackheart were going at it. She was able to knock the pistol from his hand and they were now going at it hand to hand.

"I won't let you have her," he said. "Paige Dyson belongs to me now."

"She doesn't have a leash," she said, before she struck him with her pulled back fist. "Paige belongs to no one but herself honey."

Blackheart speared her to the ground.

Bob made his way to the men who were in charge of the reprogramming machine. He had to knock them all away before he could begin trying to restore Paige's data.

Her memory was already taken and being stored inside a data processor. Another data drive was already 25% empty with 75% left to put into her programming.

"Glitch, laser chain," he ordered of his keytool. Glitch wrapped and tossed several of the assistants away from the console, but left one there. "I'm ordering you to change the cycle of this reprogramming."

"Delete me," the tech begged of him, unaware that Bob was on the edge and would fulfill his wish, if he didn't do as ordered.

"Don't think I won't," Bob ordered, with Glitch fully powered and ready to fire. "I won't ask again."

Someone grabbed him around the neck and was attempting to stop him from achieving his goal.

"I won't let you sabotage the good doctor's work," Blackheart's voice vibrated through his ear. "Paige belongs to me now Bob. You've lost her for good."

He looked over and saw that Paige's hand was starting to move; her fingers clenching as if around something in her palm.

Mouse saw the movement too. "Bob, Paige's reprogramming is nearly complete!" she shouted. "If it gets to 70%, there is no turning back sugah! Stop it now!"

Bob struggled to get away from Blackheart, chucking him in the ribs with his elbows. It wasn't easy to get the burly, former guardian off his back but he got him away and clocked him with his fist.

"That felt really good," he said.

* * *

><p>Ray Tracer blasted Doctor Akron with plasma balls from his hands and knocked him away for a few micros. "Had enough Dr. Madness?" he asked.<p>

The doctor was very upset as he got his hoverchair upright again. "I will enjoy erasing you," he said and blasted at him.

* * *

><p><strong>Outside<strong>

Damien Triad's men were charging their pulse pistols to fire on the central tower's main generator near the apex.

"Goodbye Paige," he sneered. "Fire."

All the Shadow Riders fired and destroyed the generator.

* * *

><p><strong>Inside<strong>

Akron's shots got passed Ray, struck down Blackheart, and slammed into the main computer.

The computer was destroyed and went into overload as the data drives were confused and disoriented, pumping and splicing their data into each other.

Worst of all, Paige's data was getting scrambled and reentering her body. She screamed in the obvious pain she was in.

"No!" Bob shouted. He raced over and attempted to disconnect Paige from the halo that was reprogramming her. She couldn't control her circuits in her body; twitching on the table uncontrollably.

Mouse was trying to salvage everything that was in Paige's original data drive. "I can't stop it," she shouted. "Get her out of there."

* * *

><p><strong>Outside<strong>

Damien Triad and the Shadow Riders were laughing that they had completed their mission. They didn't know for a fact that Paige Dyson was in fact deleted, but at least no one was getting out of the tower.

"Shadow Riders," a voice declared from behind as shadows blocked out the light of the system.

"Guardians!" Helicon shouted.

"Let's make haste," Brix suggested and they jetted away.

Prime Guardian Turbo saw the destruction of the central tower and what the Shadow Riders had done to it. "Regiment One, pursue and capture those surfers," he ordered.

The group of Guardians of the Port Police Unit went racing after the surfers.

"Let's get inside," Turbo said to his private contingent of guardians and they raced inside.

* * *

><p><strong>Inside<strong>

The damage had been done.

Bob finally got Paige disconnected from the halo reprogramming, but she was still and unmoving. Her body was fragmented with two different uniform programs and her golden silicone was almost white.

Ray helped Bob bring her to the floor, where he cradled Paige's head and upper body on his legs.

"Come on Paige," Bob said, giving her a light shake on her shoulder. "Come on. You can beat this. I know you can."

Mouse grabbed Akron as he was about to escape the destruction of the lab. "Oh no you don't," she said. "You're not going anywhere sugah until you help restore Paige back to normal."  
>"I wouldn't do that even if you asked nicely," Akron said. "You don't scare me hacker."<p>

She was about to slug him across the face when a voice told her to stop.

"Mouse," Turbo's voice said as he entered the lab. "He's not worth it. Gracea, take Akron outside to a holding cube. Texiera, tend to Paige."

Two, large guardians carried Akron out of his lab, though shouting that he wouldn't be taken captive. His mission would live on, until he was no longer able to be heard.

Turbo knelt down as Texiera, his lead technician on the team scanned Paige with her keytool. "What's wrong with her?" he asked.

"Her code has been scrambled beyond anything that I have ever seen," she replied. "She has half of her surfer code merged in with Akron's reprogramming."

"But you can fix her, right?" Bob asked. "She can be salvaged?"

Texiera looked to Turbo and then back. "I don't think Paige _can_ be saved," she replied. "The damage is too extensive. I think that she is…"

Ray grabbed Mouse around the waist and pulled her close.

A tear slipped down Bob's cheek as Texiera was saying that Paige could not be saved. He smoothed his hand down her cheek and pulled her into his embrace tightly. If she was even still alive, he would be suffocating her.

"No," he mumbled as wept against Paige's chest. "No!" Bob screamed to the ceiling, hoping the User would hear his pain.

Paige was gone.

* * *

><p><em>Remember to review<em>


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